Ringfort - rath

A roughly circular or oval area surrounded by an earthen bank with an external fosse. Some examples have two (bivallate) or three (trivallate) banks and fosses, but these are less common and have been equated with higher status sites belonging to upper grades of society. They functioned as residences and/or farmsteads and broadly date from 500 to 1000 AD. See Ringfort - cashel for stone equivalent.